


Welcome Home

by kiri_bronach



Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood Drinking, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Revenge, Vampire Hunters, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 01:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21007631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiri_bronach/pseuds/kiri_bronach





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OriginalCindy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OriginalCindy/gifts).

Sylvana’s first mistake was to let her guard down.

There were rumors of a witch hunt a few towns over and strangers had been passing through the forest more frequently as of late. It would be much safer for her to take her kill home. But it was a beautiful night, crisp and clear with the full moon glowing above, and Sylvana wanted to enjoy it. 

It was late, still several hours until dawn, and she can smell only the familiar scents of the forest. She drags the still warm carcass of a mule deer, her first meal in what must be almost a week, into the shelter of a tree. As she begins to drink, Sylvana listens for anything out of place. The wind whistles through the trees. A coyote calls in the distance. All seems to be right with the world.

She doesn’t hear the footsteps until it is almost too late.

Leaves crunch. A pine cone rolls down the hill. And, as she lifts her head from her meal, Sylvana can smell humans and something  _ dangerous. _ She springs to her feet and runs. The footsteps speed up. All too soon, she can hear them talking behind her.

“Where did it go?”   
  


“That way, I think.”

“That deer was definitely killed by a vampire.”

Sylvana’s second mistake was to climb the tree. 

The humans had almost caught her and she panicked. One of them grabbed her leg as she pulled herself into the branches. The hand was wrapped in a woolen glove and her leg burned when it touched her. She kicked out desperately, managing to free herself to scramble farther up the tree while trying not to think about what had been sewn into the glove.

Her strategy did not work. She perched in the tree, hoping the humans would go away, but they didn’t. One tried to climb up after her, only to be stopped by another. 

“Just do it the easy way,” the second said, pulling a bow off his back. Sylvana presses against the tree trunk as he aims at her. The arrow flew past her arm close enough to cut and she screeched in pain and gripped the branches tighter. The human reached for another arrow and Sylvana inched away until she could slip into the next tree over. The human shot again, and the second silver tipped arrow lodged in her leg.

She almost fell, then, and could hear the humans below cursing the fact that she hadn’t. Slowly, painfully, Sylvana crawled from tree to tree. Twigs whipped at her face and tangled in her long hair. The humans followed her. 

It was nearly dawn when they reached the edge of the forest. Sunlight was beginning to spill into the valley and Sylvana was still trapped in the tree, the arrow sticking out of her leg. She had to do something. 

She sniffed the air. There was a whiff of vampire scent coming from down the slope and she could faintly see a large wooden sign engraved with the symbol of a bat. The vampire tavern _ .  _ She'd be safe there, if only she could get to it.

Sylvana leapt out of the tree. She half ran half stumbled into the town, slowed by her wounds. She hadn't brought a cloak and the sun burned her skin as she went. The humans were right behind her. 

She burst through the tavern door. "Vampire hunters!" she cried out before collapsing on the floor. 

The other vampires stirred, fidgeting and whispering in fearful tones. Sylvana was vaguely aware of a couple of them dragging her behind the bar. The humans rushed into the tavern seconds later. Sylvana couldn't focus on what they're saying. Demands, a claim they're after her for some legitimate reason, threats - it all blurred together.

There's the sound of a scuffle and then silence, followed by a hushed conversation. A vampire woman appeared behind the bar and gently placed a hand on Sylvana's shoulder. She spoke softly -  _ come with me, we will help you,  _ Sylvana wasn't sure of her exact words, either.

The woman and a few other vampires helped Sylvana up and supported her as she attempted to walk. Someone draped a cloak over her to shield her from the sun, and then she was led outside to a waiting carriage. 

The carriage ride was a blur as well. Sylvana slipped in and out of sleep in the soft cushions. Each time she woke, she seemed to be in less and less pain.

\-----

“How are you feeling?” a soft voice asked, and Sylvana looked up to see the woman from the tavern. 

“Better,” she grunted and pushed herself up to a sitting position, taking in the new surroundings. She was in a small room, candlelit and windowless. The couch she’d been laying on and the chair the woman sat in were the only furniture. The arrow was gone from her leg and though her entire body still hurt, it was true that she was feeling better. "Where am I?"

“Ah, yes, I should have told you. I am Arlene of the Carminian Vampires. You are in our home.”

Sylvana nodded. She had heard of the Carminians, of their wealth and their insularity. It made a certain kind of sense that Arlene was one of them, considering how nice the carriage and room were. But why would they take in a stranger?

“I’m sorry to intrude,” she began, and tried to stand up to leave. She swayed slightly, not quite strong enough to support herself and Arlene caught her before she could fall.

“Don’t be sorry. You needed help.” Arlene guided Sylvana back to the couch, where the two of them sat side by side. “Here,” Arlene said and offered her wrist to Sylvana. Sylvana stared.

“Are… are you sure?” she asked. Arlene shrugged. 

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know. It’s just that, well, Frederick wouldn’t let me until we’d known each other for years. I just thought that was normal.” Arlene looked at her with something akin to sadness and shook her head.

“No, that's not normal.” It was all the encouragement Sylvana needed. She lowered her head to Arlene’s wrist and bit down. When Sylvana was done, Arlene left her to rest.

  
  


\-----

The next night, Sylvana was able to walk again and Arlene showed her around the castle. They met most of the rest of the clan along the way. There was Stellan, who saw them as he was heading out to hunt and stopped to tell Arlene about his latest painting. Then there was Desdemona, with her fangs in the front of her mouth and her stories from far away places, and Malachi who seemed as nervous to meet her as she was to meet him. With every person she met, Sylvana became more and more comfortable. The Carminians weren't at all what she'd been told they were.

Sylvana met the king that morning after she'd returned to her room. He was tall with a regal bearing, dressed in finery worthy of his status. But he did not act as she expected a king to act. He stroked Arlene's hair as she rose from her curtsey. He sat next to Sylvana on the couch and introduced himself simply as Carmine, no titles and no expectations that she should already know who he was.

“Arlene tells me you were attacked by vampire hunters.” Sylvana nodded, preparing to apologize for her carelessness. “Would you like to talk about it?” The question caught her off guard, as did how gently Carmine asked it. She wondered briefly if it was possibly a trap, but what could he be trying to trick her into doing? If he thought she was stupid for being caught, he could have said so before hearing the whole story. She glanced at Arlene, hoping for guidance. Arlene smiled softly and placed her hand on Sylvana's.

"My last clan kicked me out. I was so ashamed. I thought I had done something wrong. But Carmine has always been nothing but kind and understanding. You don't have to tell us your story, but I promise nothing bad will happen to you if you do."

Sylvana thought about it. The rest of the clan had been so welcoming. And Sylvana had been so lonely for so long. If there was even half a chance that could change, she had to take it. “I lived alone in the woods,” she began, and then she told them everything. She started with Frederick, how he had turned her and how he had been everything to her - her only friend, her only link to what it meant to be a vampire. She talked about how Frederick had disappeared mysteriously and she never knew what happened to him. She had been so afraid then, scared that Frederick had been captured by hunters and that they’d come back for her. She'd finally decided to take a risk and stop living in fear, and she'd nearly been killed.

She was crying by the time she finished the story with how she'd collapsed in the tavern. Carmine reached an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his hug. Arlene squeezed her hand from the other side.

  
  


\-----

Several months later, Sylvana had moved into her own room in the castle. She no longer felt nervous and out of place among the clan. 

One night, Stellan and Desdemona came back from hunting with a human carcass. It looked and smelled slightly familiar. When she examined it's clothing, she found the symbol of a small, silver dagger stitched into the cloak. It was one of the hunters who'd attacked her.


End file.
